The unique challenges of our time are calling for more female leaders at the nexus of climate adaptation, innovation, and regulation. These public and private sector executives will share stories of how they lead in their respective organizations and seek to create value for stakeholders in an era of unprecedented change.
Moderator: Jeff Gitterman - CEO, Gitterman Asset Management
Jeff Gitterman is a widely recognized leader in the climate change, ESG, and sustainable investing fields, and the creator of SMART (Sustainability Metrics Applied to Risk Tolerance)® Investing Solutions, a suite of global climate-aware allocation strategies available to financial advisory firms and individual investors.
With over 30 years of experience as a financial advisor, Jeff began realigning Gitterman Wealth Management, LLC towards sustainable investing in 2015. In 2020, the firm launched the Gitterman Asset Management brand to house its rapidly expanding ESG strategies, thought leadership, and practice management offerings for the financial advisory and institutional markets.
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Marina Severinovsky - Head of Sustainability, North America, Schroders
Marina Severinovsky is the Head of Sustainability, North America, and leads the sustainability and environmental, social and governance (ESG) integration for Schroders investments in North America. She collaborates with senior managers on market strategy, client communications, product development, sales, and investor management.
Ariane Mahler - CIO, Veridien Global
Ariane Mahler is CIO/CEO of Veridien Global Investors and lead portfolio manager for the Climate Action Strategy. Ariane has 33 years of investment experience as a global equity portfolio manager and analyst, focusing much of her time on the energy, utility, mining and technology sectors. She oversaw approximately $10 billion at the peak in assets under management.
While her studies of French mathematician Joseph Fourier and Swedish 1903 Nobel prize physicist and chemist Svante Arrhenius sparked her interest in climate change early on, it was her increasing understanding of environmental issues and her concern for the future of our planet that guided her focus throughout her investment career. In 2015, she launched Carbon Zero, the most ambitious emission reduction fund of its kind for La Francaise Asset Management. In 2018, she started the Climate Action Strategy, with a dual purpose of delivering exceptional risk adjusted returns, while helping drive energy efficiency and global decarbonization.
Ariane’s career began as an analyst at SG Warburg and finance officer at Bear Stearns. Subsequently, she spent 21 years as a lead or co-lead portfolio manager on global equity and sector focused equity portfolios, the majority of which was spent alongside the former CIO and President of Oppenheimer Capital International (at Oppenheimer and the France Growth Fund) and the former CIO of Tradewinds Global Investors (at Tradewinds and Kopernik Global Investors*). Other portfolio management and analytical experience was at Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein, Credit Suisse Asset Management, and La Française. Ariane holds a M.S. in Finance from the London School of Economics (1988) studying Capital Market Theory under Mervyn King, and a B.A. in Economics, ESSEC (Ecole Supérieure des Sciences Economiques et Commerciales, 1987).
Heather Beatty - CEO, Scopefour Capital
As the CEO and founder of ScopeFour Capital, Heather Beatty is a next generation thinker and leader in climate and impact investing. Over the last 15+ years, she has held top leadership positions at global financial institutions. In her prior role at First Eagle Investments, she also created and co-chaired the firm's first Climate Council.
Heather’s climate-related philanthropy includes partnering with the Los Angeles Cleantech Incubator and serving on the board for One Blue Ocean. Heather also co-founded Women in Institutional Investments Network (WIIIN), a 501c3 as part of her dedication to the advancement of diversity, equity and inclusion.
Rebecca Carland - CIO, Builders Asset Management
Rebecca is the Chief Investment Officer at Builders Asset Management, where she leads a growing, impact-oriented team investing globally and at scale across public and private markets towards a more humane and healthy planet, without compromising on financial returns. Previously, Rebecca was a Managing Director and senior leader on the Walton Investment Team (WIT), where she oversaw the personal and philanthropic assets for multiple generations of the Walton family. Prior to joining WIT, Rebecca managed portfolios for U.S. and international family offices at Cambridge Associates and was a member of the firm’s Mission Related Investment group. She also spent six years as an Advisor with Goldman Sachs Private Wealth Management. Rebecca started her career at the U.S. Department of Justice, focused on international rule-of-law and traveling extensively throughout Latin America to implement bi-lateral programs in coordination with foreign counterparts. Rebecca currently serves on the Investment Committee for Conservation International. She earned an MBA from the Darden Graduate School of Business at the University of Virginia and a BA in International Relations and Spanish from Tufts University.
